While attending Grambling,[2] she won the Norman Lear Award for comedy writing from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her play, Livin’ Fat.[1][3] The following year she won the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award for A Star Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hole In Heaven.[1][4] The New York Times said that Mason had created "captivating characters" in her play, but that she had forfeited letting main character Pokie face the decision between romance and a better life, when the character's boyfriend ends up joining the war in Vietnam.[5] She was named one of Glamour Magazines' Top Ten College women in 1977 alongside her friend actress, Sheryl Lee Ralph. Mason also taught playwriting and screenwriting at a number of colleges and universities for over twenty years. Her last school was Columbia College of Hollywood where she taught screenwriting for the past three years.[6] Mason began her professional writing career in New York city where she was a member of the NEC (Negro Ensemble Company).

She was a mother of two, daughter Mason Synclaire Williams and son Austin Barrett Williams. She taught playwriting around the globe at a number of universities including the University of Florida, Gainesville, and the University of Louisville. She also produced feature films and plays for the stage until her death.

Mason died unexpectedly of a ruptured abdominal aorta on July 8, 2009.